WATCH: heartwarming return of an elephant calf to her mum, and a word of thanks

This email of thanks came in from Dr. Vicki Fishlock, a member of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants research team, longtime International Fund for Animal Welfare grantee.

The video Vicki includes shows her and her teammates helping a young female elephant calf escape entrapment in a shallow Maasai well, and then help to reunite the frightened calf with her mother.

While rescues like this are outside the ATE’s normal activities, Vicki and Dr. Cynthia Moss continue their work running the world’s longest elephant research project which studies the elephant families of the Amboseli National Park ecosystem in Kenya.

Hi everyone,

I had to write and say thank you, because IFAW helped make this happen too.

Keeping my study car on (or off!) the road and people on the ground means so much to us, over and above the research we're doing with your support, and of course your work in the wider Amboseli ecosystem.

And here is why, watch.

This well has now been made safe, and we are mapping the other new wells that have not yet been reinforced to make them safe for the elephants.